Roy Hodgson: England players have not been scarred by failure

Roy Hodgson today insisted England will not be inhibited by the prospect of missing out on a major tournament when facing Montenegro and Poland.

England failed to reach Euro 2008 after losing a decisive qualification match at Wembley against Croatia with an inhibited performance symptomatic of a problem that has surfaced repeatedly in recent years.

Players have often spoken of the “fear factor” in wearing the England shirt and striker Wayne Rooney admitted there were nerves in the camp with two victories required to guarantee their place in Brazil.

Those concerned by superstitions will note a further omen in the year itself – 2013 – as qualifying campaigns have ended in failure in 1973, 1983 and 1993, although England at least defied the numerical curse by making Euro 2004.

But Hodgson, who had just taken charge of Fulham in 2007, insisted there were no scars from England’s last qualification failure and believes his squad are mentally strong enough to handle the occasion.

“I didn’t watch the defeat to Croatia but of course it would be very difficult to be English and not understand there would be a fallout when a team fails to qualify,” Hodgson told Standard Sport.

“But it is of no interest to me – it is six years ago now and what happened then has no bearing or influence whatsoever on today. As far as we are concerned, it is a historic fact that it happened but nothing more.

“It certainly hasn’t entered our head and none of us can afford to think about that occasion because we are so busy thinking about what we are going to do tonight.”